Chris_McCormack

My European Racing Season starts

 

 

 

My European racing campaign kicked off well with a win in the Ironman 70.3 event in Austria. I had a great day and despite being a little jetlagged managed to capture my fourth race win of the season. After arriving in Europe on thursday night I managed to put together a solid swim and bike combination and stay close to Belgian star and 5 time Ironman champion Marino Voehanaker. The run was very fast but I had great legs and managed to out kick Marino with 200 metres left to run and win the title. I ran a 71 minute half marathon effort which was solid on a tough course. I was happy with that considering the travel. Marino had a great race and Italian former pro cyclist Max Cigana was third after an impressive bike run combination. It was an awesome race with over 2600 athletes enjoying a great event.

I have uploaded a few pictures here but am on the road at the moment and just wanted to get a quick blog up before heading off to training camp in France. My new site will launch late this week so pop by and check it out. It is going to be awesome. My wife Emma will also have a blog on my site so she will give a different perspective of things in our life. i am actually keen to see what she has to say myself.

Anyway I will write again in a couple of days when i sewttel into Niederbronn France and a routine. My next event is in two weeks in France but i have a lot of training to get done over the next 5 weeks before Ironman Germany.

My race season so far has been really solid with 4 race wins and two second place finishes from 6 starts. I am moving into some solid form and our early season bike changes have started to take hold and I am feeling much better with my run.

So back in the car now and a long drive from Austria to France. Stay tuned for the new site and some new blogs in the next few days.

safe training,

Macca

  

Tribute to a friend

The news hit me on Wednesday like a tidal wave. Steve Larsen had died in Bend Oregon, close to his home, during a track session the night prior. I was flying out to Europe only a few hours later to compete and was stunned with the news. I spoke with my wife Emma Jane and spoke to both my girls. It was sad, sad news, and my immediate thoughts were with Steve's wife Carrie and their 5 beautiful children. I am still shaken by the news and I ache for his family. Words are never enough and I wish I was more articulate, but you could not meet a more genuine human being. A wonderful guy, a fierce competitor and a driven focused individual who had his priorities in the right place. A friend, a training partner and a loving father who at 39 years of age had died doing something he loved - working out. 

I had lived in Bend in 2005, and Steve was one of my main training partners during my 5 months in the beautiful town. The tuesday track session was a weekly set session, and I pictured Steve running with the Cascade Mountains as the backdrop, the night prior. I had done this session so many times with Steve, Kerry and Conrad.  I had moved from San Diego to Bend to change my training around and access some of the incredible riding and running that the region has. My close friend Kerry Classen was living in the area and I also knew that super cyclists, Steve Larsen and Chris Horner were also living in Bend. Conrad Stoltz was keen to make the move north and it was full speed ahead. It was the perfect mix with a great swimmer, and some of the worlds best cyclists to work out with. I moved my family north and set up home less than a mile from Steve and his family.

Steve was a great training partner and immediately made myself and my family feel very welcome. It was during this time I got to see the Steve Larsen off the race course, and he was an impressive man. I had only known Steve through racing and he was a fierce competitor with a huge desire to be at the top of triathlon in the same way he was in cycling. We had met in Wildflower in 2001 and had raced many times together. We got on very well as we had very similar personalities. It was an enjoyable time and we learned a lot from each other. The real impression he made on me was not anything athletically. It was more his friendly giving nature and his family first priorities. It was an enjoyable time and along with Conrad Stoltz we spent lots of time together, doing what we love - hurting each other on the bike. Steve loved to belt the bike, hard and put us all in the hurt box and we returned the favor every afternoon running the trails around the back of his home and pushing each other to the limits. It was great times and kicking back at his house, post tough workouts, was always a real buzz, and something I looked forward to. He had some great stories to tell.

When I received a phone call on Wednesday, as I was packing my bags, my heart just sank. I pictured his family and hurt all over. I am sitting here in Austria and I had a little run this morning. I ran a little slower than normal and returned to my room and rang my family.

It has taken me back and given me some perspective in a season that is so very focused. You just never know. To my girls at home, I love you all so very much. 

When I look at this picture I see Steve at his best. Not winning triathlons or bike races, or enjoying hurting us on the bike. Not belting through the running trails around his home or riding his mountain bike along trails faster than most people in the world.  I see Steve smiling with the most important people in his life. This is how i will remember Steve Larsen. A great family man who is gone way before his time. 

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Morgan Hill Triathlon, Specialized Bikes, Clifbar and missing home

I left my family 5 days ago and headed back up to the USA to do a race in Morgan Hill California and to catch up with two of my key sponsors. Leaving home is always tough, and Emma and Tahlia came to the airport to send me off. I will be away from my family now for 6 weeks which feels like an eternity. We speak everyday but to say I miss them would be the biggest understatement of the year. This year has been a lot tougher as with Tahlia starting school, I have to do a lot of the travel without them. It was a sad goodbye at the airport and I jumped on the Qantas flight to LA with the determination to ensure that my time way from them was as productive and meaningful as possible.

I arrived in LA and we immediately headed up north to Morgan Hill. This is about 2 hours south of San Francisco and 30 minutes from San Jose. It is the home of one of my key sponsors Specialized. After 2 years riding with Specialized I had never had the opportunity to spend some time at the headquarters and we took this opportunity to get up and spend some time with the team and discuss my bikes, my needs and work with the huge team they have at Specialized. As a bike company, there really is no comparison. Specialized make absolutely everything and their desire to work with their athletes and engineers to build better products from gloves to bikes is mind blowing. It was a remarkable experience and I walked away feeling very pumped about the future with this remarkable company. 

I was set to do a race on the Sunday and this was the key to the trip up to Morgan Hill. I spent most of my time training around the region as the riding is incredible. I went out on the Specialized lunch ride on Friday midday and then logged another 6 hours on the bike through the mountains to Santa Cruz and return on Saturday. I wanted to make sure I got some mileage in as I have a series of races to do in Europe starting next week and was expecting this smaller event in Morgan Hill to be just a hit out. I arrived at the race on sunday morning to discover that this local event drew a solid start line of about 750 athletes including some big pros like Chris Lieto, and Brian Lavelle. It is their local race so it was easy for them to come through and get a hit out in their backyard. I made a mental note to myself - make sure to check start list before doing a heavy three days training before a race.

I perked up for the event and put my head in the right place. I knew Chris would be riding exceptionally hard and Brian is a great swimmer. I just needed to stay as close as possible and strike on the run. This was my plan. I had a great swim and exited the water on Brian's feet. We had a little gap on Chris and I tried to capitalize quickly with a fast transition and setting an early tempo. Chris moved through the field pretty quickly and caught me at about 5 miles into the 18 mile bike ride. He was moving very fast and I picked up my tempo to go with the fast pace he was setting. Brian and young Aussie Michael Murphy were shelled quickly and it came down to the two of us. After 18 miles of bike riding we Lieto and myself jumped of the bike together. We had a 5 mile run ahead of us and a big gap on 3rd place. I didn't have much in the legs. Chris had ridden hard and the last few days of work had sapped my speed. I decided to run off the shoulder of Lieto and save it for the sprint to win the race. With 300 yards to go and made my move and ran away with the win which was a relief. Both Chris and myself blew the course record apart setting a new mark almost 3 minutes quicker than the old mark. It was a solid day and I was really happy with the day.

After the race I spent some solid time with my other key sponsor Clifbar. We did some filming and knocked over some sound stuff for their site. It was an enjoyable to catch up with Dylan and the team and as always we had a few laughs. I got to trial a few of the new products to be released by Clifbar this year and plan my needs for the season. As I am spending a lot of time in Europe it was the perfect opportunity to spend some time with Clifbar.

I head off to Germany on Wednesday and am looking forward to locking down into some solid training for Ironman Germany. In Europe this is always a good thing as the training is exceptional. I will be based out of France for a couple of weeks and then moving to Darmstadt in Germany for 1 month before Ironman Germany. I head home to see my girls on the 9th july and am counting down the days.

Will write again from Europe.

Safe Training,

Macca

A bit of everything

Well the last week has been pretty cool here in Sydney. I am getting ready for my long trip away from the family. I am up to the USA on wednesday and then across to Europe for 7 weeks to race and prepare for the Ironman in Germany. I really love racing in Europe and would like to win again the European Championships. Ironman Germany is an incredible race and well worth doing if you have never done it before. The support on the course is unbelievable and the race is run in a major city which makes it a real experience.

Another Ironman title would make me the most prolific male winner of Ironman events. Lothar Leder filled me in on this yesterday so that gives me a goal to aim for. Another Germany win would be my 13th Ironman title, the most by any male triathlete. I never knew that so it was interesting to hear. The europeans are great with their stats and Lothar pointed out that another win would be a benchmark result in our sport. Nothing like a bit of pressure. Thanks Lothar!.

All has been good at home. It is a funny time of year here as the winter approaches and the sicknesses start to go around. I picked up a little chest cold that I carried for the last week but am getting over now. Once i am out of Australia the warmer weather will eliminate all the bugs that float around in the winter. With my girls at school they bring all the little bugs back home with them and training in the cooler weather opens you up to the risk of catching these infections. It is inevitable, so I just bunkered down and tried to stay as healthy and fresh as I could and do only aerobic work. I have pulled up pretty good actually and felt much better this week.

This is only a short post as I am getting the girls ready for bed and we have mothers day here tomorrow so we have some presents to wrap and cards to write on. I just got a few of the shots from the recent UA add campaign they are shooting for the spring. In the shot I have included you get a nice view of the new UA racing flat. I have been enjoying racing in the new shoes and the tweaks have been great. I think the launch of this flat will be very positively received by triathletes. It is a great shoe for most athletes looking at racing from Olympic all the way through to Ironman. As bigger athletes I have always found it difficult to find a nice triathlon racing shoe that gives triathletes all the benefits they require. UA have got close to nailing the perfect shoe here. For those of you who often contact me about my racing garments by UA, please register on MaccaX now as we are getting 1000 suits made and will make these available first and foremost to our members on this site. The demand has been huge for them and we needed to work out the best way to get people into our suits for now. Stay tuned and register now!

Anyway I am out on wednesday. I will post again before I fly out. We have just finished our home renovation and it looks great. My family is settled in Burraneer Bay, south of Sydney and now it is time for me to get the heavy lifting done and the race results posted. I love it. I am also enjoying taking on these young guys. It keeps me young in the head. I love their desire and passion and get pumped racing them.

Safe training,

Macca